Rain to replace heat on Christmas Day

Rain is tipped to stop play in backyard Christmas Day cricket clashes around Sydney, with a southerly change expected to sweep through the city from early on Tuesday morning.

Those wanting to get their dose of Christmas beach weather have been urged to head to the coast on Monday, when the mercury is expected to climb to a high of 30 degrees in the city and up to 38 degrees in the west.

Christmas Eve will be best day to head to the beach. Photo: Edwina Pickles

The balmy conditions follow a hot and humid Sunday night, when the temperature in the city was still 23 degrees at midnight and hit a low of 21.6 degrees just before 4.30am.

But the heat is expected to be short lived, Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Andrew Haigh said.

"I'd say today would be the beach weather day if that's what you're after," Mr Haigh said.

"Today will probably turn out fairly similar to yesterday. It will be mostly sunny to start with. There are a few clouds around but I think they will dissipate and we will get sun for a good part of the day before it gets cloudy towards the end of the day."

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A few showers and thunderstorms could develop in the west and to the south of Sydney from Monday evening, before another warm and humid night.

The southerly change is forecast to hit early on Christmas day.

"Early in the morning tomorrow we're expecting the wind to turn around to the south, and that should really cool things down," Mr Haigh said.

"The forecast for tomorrow is for cloudy conditions, isolated showers and there is also the chance of thunderstorms early in the morning as that southerly change comes through," Mr Haigh said.

"We might not get anything, but during that period of time there's just that chance.

"For the rest of Christmas day, we're expecting a maximum of 24 degrees and most of the day should be fairly cool, fairly cloudy, with the odd shower or two about and winds from the south."

Boxing Day is expected to be cooler, with isolated showers in the morning and a top of 22 degrees forecast.